Russian Official Calls Troubled Mars Probe 'Mission Impossible'

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A beleaguered Russian Mars probe that has been adrift in the
wrong orbit since early November should be declared a failure, a
top Russian space official said, according to news reports.

The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft suffered a malfunction shortly after
its Nov. 8 launch, preventing it from journeying toward the Red
Planet. The probe has been marooned in Earth orbit for more than
a month, and flight controllers have been unsuccessful in their
repeated attempts to rescue the spacecraft.

According to the head of NPO Lavochkin, the Russian aerospace
company that designed and manufactured Phobos-Grunt, there is
little hope now of salvaging the mission, reported the Russian news
agency Ria Novosti.

"We should admit that Phobos-Grunt has failed to fulfill its main
mission of reaching Mars," Khartov told Ria Novosti Tuesday (Dec.
13) at a space-research conference in Moscow. "This is a fact.
Mission Impossible."

Phobos-Grunt was launched on a mission to collect rock and soil
samples from the Mars moon Phobos, but a malfunction with the
spacecraft's engines prevented it from accelerating beyond Earth
orbit. [ Photos:
Russia's Mars Moon Mission ]

After signals from the troubled probe were picked up by a
European tracking station in Australia, the European Space Agency
(ESA) joined the Phobos-Grunt rescue effort. But after several
attempts to communicate with the spacecraft failed, ESA officials
announced on Dec. 2 they would
stop sending commands to Phobos-Grunt.

With hopes of regaining control of the spacecraft dwindling, the
probe will likely become a piece of orbital debris and will
eventually tumble back to Earth.

Khartov estimates that Phobos-Grunt could plunge through the
planet's atmosphere sometime in mid-January, according to Ria
Novosti.

But Russian officials have maintained that Phobos-Grunt will not
pose a risk to the public.

Vladimir Popovkin, head of Russia's Federal Space Agency, said
that the probe will break up as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere,
and it is unlikely that any fragments, including the probe's
aluminum tanks full of fuel, will reach the surface of the
planet, reported Ria Novosti.

But Khartov told the Russian news agency that some parts of the
spacecraft, such as the sample-return capsule, were designed to
withstand high temperatures, and could survive the fiery trip
through the atmosphere. He added that Russian flight controllers
will keep trying to contact Phobos-Grunt until it does fall from
space.

A special commission has been established to investigate the
cause of the Phobos-Grunt malfunction, according to Ria Novosti.

The ambitious Russian mission is the 19th
robotic expedition Russia has launched toward Mars since
1960. To date, none has achieved full mission success.

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